Lots of Change

That's right, my hair's brown again! It took me about a day to get used to it, but I like it way better now that I did my eyebrows haha.

It's a little darker than I planned, but that's okay, I never know what I'm doing. I really will miss the pink, and I hope I can go back to it someday! I didn't want to worry about my roots and the fade out while I'm on vacation, and I've got to start the job hunt this summer, and I didn't want my hair to keep me from getting hired.

Since we last spoke, I graduated, too! I miss my friends already (but that's about all I miss, ya know?) So I hope you enjoy these photos of me in front of my boring garage wall, because as of tomorrow I'm off to ITALY for a whole month! I'm so excited! I'm going to try to blog about once a week while I'm there, but follow me on Instagram to keep up with my travels!

I wanted to dress up all fancy today because I plan to dress pretty practically while overseas. Now excuse me while I finish packing...

Dress, shoes: Urban Outfitters

Sunglasses: JC Penny

Almost Done

Another new dress for meeeeee :)

This one is probs much poorer quality, but it's really comfy and I like all the slits it has, in the front, in the back, and on the sleeves. I wore it with red, red, red on a 90 degree day (yeah we're there already).

I guess my only complaint is that it's got those weird sleeves that make it hard for you to lift your arms normally. Like with cap sleeves, but not.

So right now I am one exam and four days away from graduation. Not sure how to feel about it all, but I know I am super psyched for Italy! Which is actually only nine days away at this point, eek! I'll probably blog a little while I'm over there, maybe once a week, but if you want to keep up with me and see whatever awesome sights I visit, make sure you follow my Instagram!

I really want to get rid of as much Etsy inventory as I can, so I've also put art prints on super sale. Plus there's the coupon ITALIA that you can use for an additional 10% off!! I'm planning to add a bunch of new stuff once I get back and get my life together, haha.

Dress, shoes: Urban Outfitters

Brooch: Modern Girl Blitz

Sunglasses: Aldo

Dress It Down

I've felt like a princess walking around campus before, but this dress makes me feel like a straight up queen.

I dressed it down the best way I knew how; with denim and sneakers. Didn't want to make the other kids jealous, y'know? It's from The Whitepepper, a brand I have a major crush on. Their stuff is out of my little student budget though, and even on sale this dress was a splurge for me. It's a holiday dress, but I'm gonna wear it this Spring, watch me!

I'm having a hard time getting the hang of photography again, after being indoors with a white wall for 6 months. I feel like I'm not getting any better at it, really, and it sucks because I want to be good at everything! I need to devote some real practice time to it is what, with me behind the camera so I can focus on getting all the settings right.

I'm smack in the middle of finals week right now, and I'm just really really ready to graduate. I want to be in Italy now, not studying web design terms. But so far I've been doing well. My journalism loved my commercial for Rock Hill in which I recorded some pickles and rhymed it with Rock Dill.

As a reminder, I'm having a big Etsy store sale where all the vintage has been drastically marked down. You can use the code ITALIA to get an extra 10% off everything, custom art included!

Dress: The Whitepepper

Shoes: Converse

Vest, Belt: Thrifted

Big Etsy Sale!

Hey guys! Help me clean out my Etsy stock before I graduate and head overseas! All the vintage has been heavily marked down, and you can use the code ITALIA at check out for an extra 10% off everything! So help a sista out and check the shop!

Memory Lane

Vintage

Art and Custom Portraits!

Thanks to all of you who've bought things in the past, your support means so much to me!

Obsessions: Marina and the Diamonds

Really I could listen to Marina on repeat forever. She's been around since 2010, but I just found out about her last year. Her two albums, Family Jewels and Electra Heart are both equally amazing, and I highly recommend playing through them both (endlessly) if you're new to her.

She's got this fabulous, fun, sassy persona and sings pop songs about love, adolescence, and glamor, which is really all I want in a musician. But on top of that this girl's voice is bonkers. I was surprised to learn that she didn't get into music due to her (totally awesome) voice, but primarily for the lyrics. Not that that doesn't make sense, because they speak to me, they do. But I woulda given her a record deal in a hot minute for her voice alone! She also made her first album, Family Jewels, entirely by herself, music and all! Seriously impressive. I've got such a crush.

Kindly: Hand-Embroidered Quotes

Did you guys notice that I got a new button over there on the right sidebar?

I know you guys saw my thesis project, right? Well this is one of my friends', called Kindly! For her thesis, my roomate Amanda made a set of hand-embroidered hoops featuring quotes from the Arts and Crafts movement. She made them to raise awareness for child labor, and a portion of the proceeds from this project will go to Unicef!

Go check it out and support her work!

Pinkest

Ooooh look at the Spring!

I've really been loving the weather, all bare legs and no sleeves. I wish it would stay this temperature, though, instead of getting up in the humid sticky 90s that I know we'll be enduring come June.

So I found this dress on sale at Urban. Most dresses there are $30 or so when they're marked down, but this one was like $6 something! I was like "...ok what's the catch." So I tried it on, and turns out the zipper was straight up broken. Hohoho did you think you had me there, Urban? I can replace a zipper!

So I did. And tbh it looks even better now, because the one that it came with was one of those exposed metal zippers that have been trendy lately. I peeled off the clearance tags and this thing was originally $80! Can you believe that!! Honestly, I don't think the clothes there are very high quality, especially not for the high prices. But damn I got lucky, right?

I may end up replacing the straps too, because spaghetti straps aren't really my thing.

(jacked these nails from The Clothes Horse, no regrets)

Dress: Urban Outfitters

Shoes: Thrifted (but they're originally Urban haha)

Necklace: Forever 21

Bag: Thrifted

And yeah, it doesn't hurt that it matches my hair perfectly.

Outside Again

First, thank you all so much for your kind words on my last post and/or facebook about my senior thesis! It's been a ton of work and it's great to know that I saw this whole thing through.

Anyway, I am so excited to be shooting outside again!

My sweetie mommy got me a new tripod for Easter (the one that Michelle recommended me actually) and now I can go out of my dingy studio to take photos. Obviously I was so pumped to be outdoors that I didn't adjust the brightness properly and now my dress kindof hurts my eyes. But other than that they turned out real cute! I can't wait to go on adventures with this baby.

Good old Cotton building, I will miss you. It seems I'm down to my last few weeks at Winthrop ever, which is freaking me out a little. Mile markers like graduation always get me thinking about the past. I've changed so much since highschool. Like I used to be super uncomfortable with poop jokes and I corrected people's grammar all the time. I had a pair of black Converse I wore every day that were full of holes. Drew on my jeans, too. I was really into musical theater, and not really into makeup.

Still a cat person tho.

Dress: Target

Jackets: Thrifted

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

Socks: Uniqlo

Necklace: Forever 21

Looking forward to the bright new future rn.

Art Lately: Change is Good

for inconnumag

for a zine I made that I'll put in my shop soon!

did some book covers

my new favorite

Since I'm graduating and all I've been thinking back on (my life) a lot.

Specifically, since I'm about to get a degree in Illustration, I've been thinking about my art style in particular and how it's changed.
I used to be really into fairytale illustration, and illustrating things I read about in books (especially couples, I was all about couples). My art used to be really escapist and whimsical, and though there are still elements of that in what I do, I think the focus has changed.
As I learned more about feminism and racism and discrimination in college, my art developed with my mind. My art has always been really important to me, like it's an extension of myself. It's why I'm not good at taking critique on my personal work, because I feel like if you don't like my art, you don't like me. And if someone really gets my art, I take it as a major compliment, like "Rachel, I like your SOUL."

In the past year, my art has taken a turn towards a more girl-power oriented deal, and it's definitely more concept-driven. I used to paint things just because they looked pretty (there's nothing wrong with that, btw), but now I think, "What message can I get across with this piece?" I paint more portraits now, I actually have a hard time painting anything but, because I love faces so much.

I think a good way to summarize the changes in my work is that I'm much more interested in painting real things for real people than imaginary stuff.